Is Low Progesterone Behind Every Hormone Problem?

This article is suitable for:  Perfect Periods, Fertility, Post-Partum and Perimenopause

Wondering what the heck is happening with your hormones?!?

I am creating a new online quiz, and as I compiled the reasons behind various conditions- PMS, infertility, postpartum depression, disruptive menopause- one reason was dominating the answer field: low progesterone.

I don’t know why the sheer dominance of the pattern just hit me now after years of research!  Hopefully I can save YOU a few more years of hormonal confusion with this article.  This article is suitable for women in any stage of life!

What is Progesterone? 

Progesterone is a hormone made primarily in the ovaries by the corpus luteum (the tissue left behind after you release an egg at ovulation). It is also made by the adrenal glands, and if you are peri-menopausal or menopausal with infrequent or no ovulation, then you really rely on the adrenals as a source of progesterone.

Progesterone has various functions in the body:

• After your ovulate, it helps ‘ripen’ your uterine lining, preparing for a possible pregnancy

• Raises your basal body temperature in the second half of the cycle

• Serves a precursor hormone to cortisol, your energy/stress hormone made by the adrenal glands

• Lifts you mood and calms your body

• Benefits sleep

• Prevents water retention

• Helps the cells utilize fats

• Helps maintain blood sugar levels

You can surmise by the list above that if you are low in progesterone, you may have some of the opposite effects- bloated, moody, can’t sleep, craving sugar, gaining weight, and periods are irregular or heavy.

How Does Low Progesterone Happen?

Low progesterone can occur for many reasons that are very common in modern life, which is likely why I am seeing this pattern so frequently with my clients.

1. Estrogen Dominance

Estrogen dominance is both a cause and a result of low progesterone.

It’s a cause because you can get too high in estrogen due to carrying excess body weight, and your fat tissue produces estrogen.  Even if you are thin, you can put yourself into excess estrogen if you have high blood sugar and  insulin resistance.  Insulin resistance is a state in which your cells block insulin from getting inside because your blood sugar is too frequently too high.

Symptoms of blood sugar dys-regulation include:  feeling hungry all the time, getting very irritable if you miss a meal (or a snack), fatigue, weight gain around the middle, acne.

The most common hormonal disorder amongst women of reproductive age is PCOS, or polycystic ovarian syndrome.  In this condition, there is insulin resistance, high androgen production, and disordered function of the ovaries.  This often leads to missing or infrequent ovulation.  As you learned already, most of our progesterone is made after you ovulate, so you don't ovulate, then you won't make much progesterone, and you'll be in estrogen dominance.

Another major disruptor are xenoestrogens, which are synthetic compounds that activate estrogen receptors in the body. 

Some key sources of xenoestrogens are: 

• Commercially-raised meat and dairy products

• Medications, including birth control pills

• Non-organic foods (with traces of pesticide)

• Soft plastics

• Shampoos, body lotions and perfumes (contain xenoestogenic compounds unless all natural)

• Tap water

• Food additives

• Bleached tampons and sanitary pads

You can see that it’s easy to get exposed to a lot of xenoestrogens in day!  The xenoestrogens in your body confuse the feedback loop between your brain and your ovaries.  If your liver is overloaded, you won’t break down these xenoestrogens well, and they can get stored up in fat tissue (hello, belly fat) for you body to handle later.

Here’s an article by the Environmental Working Group if you’d like to deepen your research on this topic.

Even if you don't have excess estrogen, if progesterone is low, you can still end up in estrogen dominance. 

Estrogen and progesterone play a seesaw game over the course of a month, and over the course of your life as a woman.  Estrogen is needed to stimulate your ovaries and grow your uterine lining in the first part of your cycle.  This strong first half leads to strong progesterone in the second half, unless something goes wrong. The following points can all be causes of low progesterone.

2. Poor Nutrition

With the busyness of modern life, it’s easy to choose processed foods, caffeinated drinks and sugary pick-me-ups.  Living in a grind, without time to reflect and connect, can also draw us towards ‘comfort food,’ or that after-work glass of wine.

Besides these easy-to-make poor choices of modern life, even organic food is not as nutritious as it used to be, due to decreased soil quality.  And let’s face it, we don’t alway eat organic, whether it’s because we don't have access, we can’t afford it or we’re eating out.

The last point I’ll mention here is weak digestion.  When we’re stressed, have taken antibiotics, don’t chew our food, etc., we aren’t getting the most out of the food we eat.

How does this contribute to low progesterone?  We need certain ingredients to make and utilize hormones.  You need enough B6 and cholesterol for progesterone production, but there is more to it than that.  All our micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and macronutrients (protein, fat and carbohydrates) are needed for the proper functioning of our coordinated hormonal system.

3.  Stress 

You are a highly productive woman, but you are likely under chronic stress. (If not, congratulations!) Stress can come from so many places: your commute, the chemicals in your environment, a tense relationship, an undiagnosed dental infection, etc. Chronic stress makes your adrenal glands react with a high level of cortisol…at least at first.  In this stage you may feel wired, not be able to sleep, not be able to focus on sex, feel anxious, etc.

As you learned earlier, progesterone is a precursor to cortisol. So if you are making lots of cortisol, is it fair to assume that your progesterone level is being affected? Yup.  

Image courtsey of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (TM)

Have a look at the chart to the right. Not only will you burn through progesterone to make cortisol, your body will start to favor that pathway at the expense of your other sex hormones: testosterone and estrogen (pictured at lower right).  

Remember how you learned earlier that progesterone is made mainly by the corpus luteum?  There is another hormone that is needed to get you to a nice, strong ovulation: estrogen.  Estrogen is made by the ovaries, upon signaling by your brain, to stimulate your ovarian follicles and mature a healthy egg in the first half of your menstrual cycle.

This is why we can’t overly focus on the low progesterone aspect.  We have to look ‘upstream’ at what other hormones are being affected and what’s really behind our imbalances.  

Low cortisol can be related to some other symptoms like catching colds and flus frequently, getting dizzy easily, or feeling overwhelmed easily.  

4. Perimenopause

Perimenopause is the ten year period before menopause during which your ovarian function is declining.  For some women, they are still getting a period pretty regularly and feeling pretty good.  For others, this ten year period can be tumultuous.  After learning about stress and nutrition above, I’m sure you could guess these things could play in to a rockier perimenopause.

But this declining ovarian function is natural.  As your egg quality declines with age (even if you’re enjoying low stress and good nutrition) you could still fail to ovulate, or ovulate a ‘weak’ egg, and its corpus luteum may not produce as much progesterone.

As you learned earlier, the adrenals can pick up some slack…as long as they aren’t depleted from years of stress and malnutrition!  

There is another change that is occurring too, especially as you get close to menopause: the main type of estrogen you use is changing form estradiol to estrone, and this a big switch for your body.  You have different receptors for estradiol versus for estrone, so there can be some ‘wobbles,’ such as memory lapses or hot flashes as you go through this process.  You can also have what feels like constant PMS, and that’s no good! Be sure to read our ‘what to do to support progesterone’ section at the end of this article.

5. Postpartum

Source: Colorado State University (click image for full article)

What’s another time that you are not ovulating for natural reasons?  Pregnancy and postpartum!  While you are pregnant you are on a hormonal high, with corpus luteum and then the placenta producing producing very high amounts of estrogen and progesterone, up to 30-50 times higher than your non-pregnant level!  

But after childbirth, your hormones levels drop like a bad habit.  This can produce some of the same reactions as in perimenopause, like night sweats and depression.

As you breastfeed, you are high in the hormone prolactin, and that inhibits ovulation. As you are learning no ovulation leads to low progesterone.  Again, your adrenal glands can pick up the slack, but if you came into pregnancy with moodiness and poor stress-handling, you likely will end up there again after childbirth.  Be sure to read through for our 'fixes' at the end!

6. Low Thyroid Function

Lastly, let’s learn about low thyroid function. If you have an under-functioning thyroid, whether due to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or another reason, it can affect your progesterone.  This happens in two ways:

1. When you have low thyroid function, you have decreased sex-hormone binding globulin (that’s a mouthful) which binds up sex hormones like estrogen, possibly letting estrogen levels get too high compared to progesterone.

2. Because thyroid hormone stimulates activity in every area of the body, when thyroid hormone is low, your production of sex hormones will be low.

It’s estimated that up to 15% of Americans have thyroid disease, if you include subclinical hyptothyroidism.  Up to 10% of women will experience post-partum thyroiditis.  Women are 5-10% more likely to have thyroid disease than men, and the age group over 50 is most at risk. (Source:  Your Healthy Pregnancy with Thyroid Disease by Dana Trentini and Mary Shomon,.

How are we getting to this heightened incidence of hypothyroidism?  Again, the factors of modern life are the perfect storm for it:  high stress, toxins everywhere, an ‘altered’ food supply.

Autoimmune Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is the leading cause of hypothyroidism. The gut, as we discussed in the Poor Nutrition section and will discuss again in the closing section, is a key area of focus in healing Hashimoto’s.  When peptides (parts of the protein in foods) cross the gut barrier into the blood stream it stresses the system and the immune system responds by going after those peptides that shouldn’t be there.  But the trouble is that this dysregulated immune system will also attack the body’s own tissue, in this case the thyroid gland.

The most touted symptoms of low thyroid are foggy thinking, cold limbs, fatigue, hair loss, constipation and weight gain.  But I fight with hypothyroidism and I am skinny and tend more towards loose stool, and luckily still have all my hair! There are many manifestations of hypothyroidism, so it’s worth taking a deeper look if you suspect you may have hypothyroidism.  A great place to start looking is the website of Dr. Izabella Wentz, aka the Thyroid Pharmacist.

What to Do to Support Progesterone Production:

Herbs and Supplements:

Maca- Maca is an adaptogenic herb, meaning it can adapt to find and serve the needs of your body.  It can increase your energy by supporting your adrenal glands. My friend Dr. Anna Cabeca, who developed a green drink mix called Mighty Maca, says that in a before and after lab test, her client’s DHEA doubled using Might Maca.  DHEA is a precursor to our sex hormones estrogen and testosterone, so that’s great news!  Testosterone, by the way, is the dominant sex hormone in men, but women do need and want it for sex drive, muscle tone and confidence, among other things.

Vitamin C- The ‘simple’ vitamin C is greatly needed by your adrenal glands.  So boosting your supply of this vitamin helps your adrenal glands make more hormones.  Food sources include fresh broccoli (not so much week old broccoli), peppers and lemons.  As a supplement, look for alma powder or a vitamin C with bioflavonoids.  It’s also in the Might Maca powder mentioned above.  You can take quite a bit; I’d suggest 1,000 - 3,000 mg/day.  Check with your doctor if you have any special medical conditions.

Vitex- Vitex, or Chaste Tree Berry, has a special ability to support your brain’s communication with your ovaries.  This can really support a strong ovulation and a resulting high progesterone level in the second part of your cycle.

Foods:

Avoid processed foods, gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine and alcohol.  According to Dr. Tom O’Bryan, author of the Autoimmune Fix, gluten, sugar and dairy are the three biggest triggers of autoimmunity and inflammation.  Learn more in my podcast interview of Dr. Tom.

Fill your day with thing like hot lemon water and smoothies in the morning (I like to pair my smoothie with bacon or sausage), generous salad with nuts and beans at lunch, and fish or meat and veggies in a fat-rich sauce at dinner. 

If you have low cortisol, you probably also have low blood sugar and will need a couple healthy snacks between meals.  Avoid ‘grazing,’ and don’t snack if you don’t need to, but if you tend to crash dramatically without food, then eat more often.

Remember that you don’t have to avoid natural fats to be skinny, you just have to avoid processed carbs!

Healing:

As we learned earlier a leaky gut (increased intestinal permeability), can increase your odds of autoimmune diseases.  It can also decrease your odds of get nutrition out of your foods.  So your digestive system is important to heal and maintain.  Do this by eating a wide variety of plant fibers- aim for twenty different types a week- to feed your friendly gut flora. 

If your digestion is weak, cooked food with just a side of raw salad is best for you.  Eat in a calm environment and chew your food well.  I recommend a high-quality probiotic, and it may require a higher dose while you heal.  You can check out the probiotic we love, MegaSpore Biotic, at our Programs and Products page.

You’ll also need to rest (you read that right).  Remember earlier how we said that running around without time to rest and reflect can lead to poor food choices?  Beyond poor food choices, it can lead to poor life choices!  So take some time each day to let your mind unwind.  You can read a book, journal, meditate, nap…whatever you like.  It’s great to occasionally take a retreat in a natural setting too. Make sure to get a good night’s sleep each night, as critical healing and rebuilding happens nightly.

For cycling women, we offer a Perfect Periods self-study course to help you identify and treat your root causes of low progesterone! Check it out here.

If you’re not yet subscribed to our newsletter, we’d love to have you!  You can do so here, and you’ll receive our Hidden Hormone Stressors Quiz, our video “Is My Cycle Normal?’ and our Ten Ways to Destress ebook. 

Lastly, feel free to share this article or leave a comment below. Thanks!

Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP

Candida-Yeast Overgrowth Underdiagnosed By Krista Goncalves

Candida. Candidiasis. Yeast overgrowth. Fungal infection.

Whatever you want to call it, it's NO FUN when you've got it!

It's Summer...hot, sticky weather conditions and our bodies are such perfectly moist breeding grounds for all kinds of "critters". I've had a number of friends complaining of this particular condition lately, or at least trying to figure out if they've got it!

So what does a vacationing Nutritionist do when she's drunk a number of frosty beers (aka, yeasty, gluten-bombs), and eaten buckets of tortilla chips (grains!) while sitting around in a wet bathing suit down by the lake for several weeks?

Ok, that's my way of saying, minus the nose-crinkling details, that I've had a problem with yeast overgrowth, multiple times in the past 25 years. 

In fact, we've all likely had it in some form or another, and some of us may not have even realized we had it! 

Of course you're probably already thinking of that thick, white discharge, reminiscent of cottage cheese, that makes your va-jay-jay itchy & cranky. But that's not necessarily always one of the symptoms when this critter is in a state of overgrowth - and it's not just exclusive to women's southern parts either!

It's much more tricky & complex than that, so let me do my best to scratch out all of the details for you. 

What is Candida-Yeast Overgrowth? (Candidiasis)

First off, a small amount of Candida yeast in the mouth, digestive tract and vagina is normal. It’s just part of our body's natural flora. However, when this organism decides that it’s party time, and blooms out of control - it can wreak havoc on your whole system!

“Candidiasis is a fungal infection caused by yeasts that belong to the genus Candida. There are over 20 species of Candida yeasts that can cause infection in humans, the most common of which is Candida albicans. ”

— Center for Disease Control (CDC)

Candida yeasts normally live on the skin and mucous membranes without causing infection; however, overgrowth of these organisms can cause symptoms to develop. Symptoms of candidiasis vary depending on the area of the body that is infected."

Thrush

Candidiasis that develops in the mouth or throat is called thrush or oropharyngeal candidiasis. It can also travel down the esophagus. Breastfeeding babies are prone to thrush as are mother's nipples. Ouchy!

Babies are also prone to yeast in the diaper area, but it's not the same as the typical diaper rash on their bums. 

Diaper rash caused by yeast is differentiated as one that appears red, raised, and patchy with sharp borders, mostly over the genitalia but with satellite spots sprinkled around the diaper area. 

I remember with both of my kids, it was an especially red nasty rash that wouldn't go away with regular diaper cream but cleared up wonderfully with good 'ol vag cream - Canestan, Monistat or generic brands. Now I just always keep a tube of it on hand :-)

Yeast Infections

Speaking of... Candidiasis in and around the lady bits is commonly referred to as a yeast infection. 

Gals, this is the one that you're most familiar with due to the intense itching, redness and sometimes a lovely aromatic discharge emanating from your hoo-ha like your own personal brewery. These are the hallmarks of this type of fungal infection. If you've never experienced one, I hope you never have to!

Systemic Candida

Invasive or systemic candidiasis occurs when a Candida species enters the bloodstream and spreads throughout the body. 

“Candida overgrowth can show up in just about every tissue in the human body.”

— BodyEcology.com:

Systemic candida is often the most serious type as it is difficult to get a handle on and has many possible symptoms, including:

-    inability to lose weight
-    alcohol intolerance (you get buzzed very easily)
-    toenail fungal infections
-    athlete's foot, jock itch
-    severe abdominal bloating (looking pregnant by end of day)
-    painful/itchy/red skin rashes (especially in body folds like boob-flaps & armpits)
-    a feeling of brain fog or lack of mental clarity (even forgetting your usual routine)

This is the type of Candida overgrowth that we'll be mainly focusing on in this post. Take a look at the lengthy list of symptoms – and this is not even a comprehensive list of possible symptoms, just the more common ones.

For an interesting discussion on commonly overlooked symptoms of various gut bugs including Candida – listen to the Women’s Wellness Radio podcast with Dr. Andrea Maxim.

What Causes An Overgrowth of Candida albicans?

It’s normal for a certain amount of Candida to be in your body at any one time, but there are a number of predisposing factors that can cause it to grow out of control, as adapted from Whole Approach:

Predisposing Factors

1) Destruction of the C. albicans' natural control mechanism: Broad-spectrum antibiotics (e.g. tetracycline) destroy the healthful bacteria, which control the Candida population. For example, Lactobacillus acidophilus competes with C. albicans for space and nutrients in the intestinal tract. It also releases acid, which makes the environment less favorable for Candida growth, and even feeds off of the Candida directly. When Lactobacillus acidophilus is attacked by antibiotics, Candida proliferates and can change to its pathogenic mycelial form. 

After prolonged or frequent (more than 3 times in a year) broad-spectrum antibiotic use, Candidiasis symptoms may start to appear in a matter of months or even days and often linger for life if untreated, especially if one regularly consumes poultry, eggs, meats and/or milk since these usually contain antibiotics (and steroids, see #2 below). 

Chemical preservatives in food also support Candida overgrowth, which includes most processed/ packaged foods.

2) Weakening of host defense mechanisms: A number of factors can compromise the effectiveness of the immune system that is responsible for eradicating invaders such as Candida. Lowered immunity may result from steroid drugs and cancer chemotherapeutic agents, both of which are immuno-suppressants. Prolonged illness, stress (all forms), alcohol abuse, smoking, lack of exercise, lack of rest and poor nutrition (see #4 below) are also key factors which tend to weaken the immune system.

3) Female anatomy: Women are generally more susceptible to Candidiasis than men for several reasons:

 - Female hormonal levels are constantly fluctuating and sustained high levels of estrogen can occur. This condition tends to impair immune system function.

 - C. albicans growth is stimulated by the female hormone progesterone. Its levels are elevated during pregnancy and in the second half of each menstrual cycle. Synthetic progestins are found in oral contraceptives and also contribute to candida overgrowth.

 - The female anatomy lends itself to the ready migration of C. albicans from the rectum to the genito-urinary system. Vaginal yeast infections are a common result.

4) Poor diet establishes a breeding ground for Candida: The nutrient-poor, low-bulk, highly-refined carbohydrate diets of most North Americans will, over a period of years, transform a healthy large intestine into a lifeless pipe caked with layers of encrusted fecal matter. Which, in turn becomes the site of constant putrefaction, fermentation, rancidification, and is a home for toxin-inducing pathogenic bacteria, and an excellent environment for the proliferation of the mycelial tentacles of Candida.

A highly-refined carbohydrate diet serves as a very desirable food source for C. albicans which further entrenches it within the microscopic crevices of encrusted fecal matter. The small intestine, housing a more fluid chyme, does not become so caked with old fecal matter as it does with mucus. This also encourages Candida proliferation.

It has also been suggested that if you have been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue (CFS), Fibromyalgia (FMS), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), chronic sinusitis, and/or you have recently taken antibiotics - especially lengthy or multiple courses, then you can suspect a concurrent Candida infection and should seek treatment. Of which, you can expect a 3-6 month treatment process for systemic infections.

How Do You Test For Candidiasis And Get A Diagnosis?

Here's the tricky part... diagnosis for oral thrush and vaginal yeast infections are generally easy because the symptoms are so distinct, but for a systemic infection it can be quite difficult as the symptoms are often plentiful, seemingly unrelated and can mimic so many other conditions!

If you're experiencing 3 or more of the above-mentioned symptoms or otherwise suspect a yeast overgrowth, consult your doctor or health practitioner for examination and possible testing.

Hormone Expert Dr. Chelsea Gronick ND notes that fatigue, brain fog and sugar cravings are the top 3 symptoms she sees with patients and she uses stool and organic acids urine testing in her naturopathic clinic in Kelowna BC.

However, if you're an impatient patient like me, and you simply want to take matters into your own hands, here's what you can do to establish a probable diagnosis and begin treatment of a systemic yeast infection...

A) Complete the Candida Questionnaire

The questionnaire was developed by Dr. William Crook - amended from TheCandidaDiet.com

          WOMEN

A score of 10 or greater indicates that your health problems may be connected to a yeast overgrowth. A score of 13 or higher suggests that they are almost certainly yeast connected.

          MEN

A score of 8 or greater indicates that your health problems may be connected to a yeast overgrowth. A score of 11 or higher suggests that they are almost certainly yeast connected.

B) Spit Test

First thing in the morning, before your feet hit the floor, spit generously into a clean glass of water and let it sit for 5 minutes. Observe the behavior of your spittle. If it does anything except float at the top - like sink or drop "legs" down, you can suspect Candida overgrowth.
 

Image credit: CandidaSpitTest.org

C) White Tongue

As listed in the questionnaire... after you've done your spit test and before you drink anything or brush your teeth, go look in the mirror at your tongue. Does it have a white coating on it? If similar to this picture, you can suspect Candida overgrowth. 

D) Laboratory Testing

Conventional medicine often only recognizes this condition in the most extreme cases, but Medical Doctors are becoming more open-minded and educated about it, so if you feel your Doc is on board with the investigation, then you can ask them to order blood & fecal tests. 

Although be aware that these may only show positive results in extreme cases and may give negative results when you truly do have an overgrowth and are experiencing symptoms.

Obviously if you're a woman and you suspect a vaginal yeast infection, your Doctor can test for that. Although quite frankly, I'm more than aware when I have one and begin self-treatment right away!

E) Other Options

If still suspicious but unsure if you have Candidiasis after exploring the above 4 options, consider seeking out a Naturopath or other alternative health practitioner. They may use other forms of assessment such as electrodermal testing and the Organic Acids Test (OAT).

Ok, so you've established that you've got too much candida... now what do you do about it?

How to Treat Candidiasis or Candida-Yeast Overgrowth

    Clean up your daily diet. This one is listed first because it is should be top priority as it may be what got you into this sticky mess in the first place ;-) 

The best Candida treatment is to overhaul your diet. Candida grows exponentially in response to starchy carbohydrates, sugar and some fermented foods. So, it’s important to eat a whole foods diet that’s low especially low in sugar and refined carbohydrates. This means increasing your daily intake of leafy green vegetables, lean protein, herbal teas and water.

You can google 'Candida Diet' and you're going to get a hundred different protocols about how you should eat, and how you need to "starve" the Candida. Coming from my own personal experience - most of them are incredibly restrictive and some can be downright dangerous. 

I’ve always been a bit skeptical about the usefulness of these particular diet protocols, so I asked Naturopath Dr. Chelsea Gronick if these so-called “Candida-starving diets” are necessary and effective. She says, “YES, but only when combined with other complementary protocols,” like these I’ve listed below.

Here are the basics where daily diet and fending off Candida is concerned:

•    Eat less sugar... way less sugar, in all its forms including soda, fruit juices and even naturally-occurring fructose found in fruit. I would stick to whole fruit like berries & green apples. The one saving grace here is you can still enjoy small amounts of high-quality dark chocolate! 70% or more cacao and very low-sugar.

•    Eat gobs of leafy greens and sulfur-rich foods like garlic, onions & most spices, even at breakfast!

•    Eat less processed and packaged foods, and limit all starchy carbs (again, sugar!), especially corn and gluten-containing grains like wheat, rye, barley, spelt & kamut. I would simply stick to small portions of brown rice, buckwheat & quinoa, of which soaking & sprouting is preferable. Here’s a great grain, nut & seed soaking guide.

•    Consider eliminating gluten and dairy entirely, which can lead to inflammation in the gut, which is a predisposing factor.

•    Avoid fermented & moldy foods and yeast, with the exception of apple cider vinegar (unpasteurized, with the "mother" in it) and nutritional yeast (nooch is all good, baby). 
Fermented foods would be vinegar & soy sauce, and moldy foods are mushrooms & peanuts.

•    Drink less alcohol... way less alcohol! Especially beer & wine due to the fermentation and generally high sugar & yeast content.

    Eat more fiber - way more fibre! 

“Consuming a blend of soluble and insoluble fibers help soak up and sweep out dead Candida organisms, ensuring that they are eliminated from the body rather than reabsorbed. If you are unable to get the recommended 25-38 grams of fiber into your daily diet (ahem...leafy greens!), consider a fibre supplement - increasing intake only by 5 grams every few days and drink plenty of water!”

— RenewLife.ca

    Support your liver & heal your gut

“Both the gut and liver are your body’s primary defense team. They protect you against invading pathogens, rogue bacteria, dietary irritants, and outside toxins. When unwelcome microorganisms in the body manage to work their way past the gut’s defenses, the liver is on cleanup duty. Toxic Candida can make it almost impossible to detoxify your body, so it’s critical to control an overgrowth by healing the gut lining, while also supporting liver health.”

— BodyEcology.com

You can support your liver (and gallbladder) daily with supplements like N-acetyl cysteine, a-Lipoic acid and herbal extracts of turmeric (containing curcumin), milk thistle (containing silymarin), artichoke, dandelion and sarsaparilla, which all help to increase production of glutathione – considered the “mother of all antioxidants”.

    Take Probiotics. Anti-biotics = anti/take away life. Pro-biotics = pro/give life. 

I feel that everyone should be taking these whether you have a yeast overgrowth or not! I personally take 50 billion CFU - which is a more therapeutic dose. Look for a product that contains the important strain saccharomyces boulardii.

    Use Proteolytic Enzymes. What are these you ask? A supplemental enzyme blend including nattokinase, that has the ability to break down the tough exterior wall and protective biofilm that surrounds the Candida albicans' cell. Some formulations will also include enzymes to break down sugars & starches which feed the Candida.

    Anti-fungals. You can take singular ones like garlic bulb (active component = allicin), oregano oil, black walnut husk, berberine, pau d'arco, grapefruit seed extract, neem leaf, clove bud, and caprylic acid – a component found in coconut oil. 

However, because Candida can become resistant to any one anti-fungal, rotating different ones or taking a broad-spectrum blend of anti-fungal & anti-bacterial herbal supplements like those that are considered as "candida cleanses" are probably the best bang for your buck! You may need to take these for several weeks to several months, depending on the severity of your overgrowth.

    If you still find that you are unable to get your condition under control, you may need to seek out prescription anti-fungals like Diflucan or Nystatin.

I left this one for last as I really do feel it's best to try the natural treatment route for many non-life-threatening health conditions. However, it's your body and your health so do what you feel is best for you!

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to take my natural anti-fungals and NOT wash them down with another frosty, yeasty gluten-bomb beer... which is so hard to resist on a hot summer's day ;-)

Need to clean up your diet ASAP? 

Grab a FREE instant download of The Clean Life Hack Cookbook – featuring 50+ whole foods, low-sugar recipes. 

This article originally appeared on Krista Goncales website.

FOUND THIS INTERESTING?

A former marine biologist, Krista is now a Certified Holistic Nutritionist (CHN) and Registered Nutritional Counselor (RNC) – a qualified practitioner who provides guidance for building and maintaining nutritional well-being.

Krista likes to say that she's having a culinary love affair with food and is captivated by how it fuels, nourishes and energizes us. She believes your food should work for you, not against you. 

The mantra of “what you put in, is what you'll get out” supports her belief that real food, along with some high-quality supplements, can help heal us from many health conditions, or even prevent us from having certain ones in the first place - like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

With over 20 years of diverse professional teaching experience and a deep passion for promoting balanced, healthy living, she feels her contribution to the rapidly expanding and ever-evolving field of "functional health" is not only important, but incredibly rewarding.

Krista is also a women's health writer and you'll find her blogging regularly onMakingLemonade.ca ~ Empow(her)ed Health & Nutrition!

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Benefits of Black Cohosh

Black Cohosh Root

Black cohosh is a root herb that is frequently used for menopausal symptoms, but it is a major help to fertility too.  Many women are trying to conceive at an older age, and thus are in perimenopause (the ten year period before menopause.) So black cohosh may just be the perfect herb for the older mama, and can benefit the younger mama too.

The mechanism with which black cohosh acts on female hormones is unclear.  It is documented to have an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect on the body, but how it alleviates hot flashes is unclear.  It has been found to have an effect on the central nervous system and modulate dopamine and serotonin.  It is also observed to have an effect on the hypothalamus-pituitary axis (HPA), the command center of the endocrine system.

In a 2012 study by Nadaoka, Yasue, Sami, and Kitagawa, extract of black cohosh improved markers of acute stress handling.  Could it be that black cohosh, in helping your body handle stress, decrease inflammation and prevent oxidation allows for better hormone production?

In a 2013 study conducted in Egypt on 100 women with PCOS, Black Cohosh outperformed the fertility drug Clomid, producing more favorable changes in LH level and FSH/LH ratio. In women with PCOS, often the ratio of LH (luteinizing hormone) to FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) is 3:1, whereas in healthy women it is about 1:1. This change in the LH to FSH ratio in PCOS cases is enough to disrupt ovulation and fertility. 

Black cohosh has been used successfully for PMS, insomnia, menstrual cramps and menstrual irregularities.  

Due to modern stressors, today even women in their 20s can have hot flashes.  I think black cohosh is an herb worth exploring, especially if you’ve been told you have low estrogen or have experienced some of the symptoms I described above.

When we treat hormones, we always need to look at root causes as well.  If you have not yet taken our Hidden Hormone Stressors quiz, we invite you to do so here!

Sending Love for Your Hormones, Bridgit

Recovery from Stillbirth: The Benefit of Yoga by Laura Devine

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, 1 out of every 160 pregnancies in the United States ends in stillbirth. Of these, First Candle.org highlights that more than 50% are full term and occur in otherwise healthy, low-risk pregnancies. To many this is a staggering statistic but to the mother of a stillborn child it is a sobering reality.  

On New Years Day 2014 it became my reality. During a perfectly healthy pregnancy full of plant-based whole foods, plenty of exercise and daily meditation, my daughter’s heart stopped at 40 weeks and three days gestation; a heartbreaking three days past her due date.

In my work as a fitness director for a local country club, clients were constantly telling me how easy my labor would be. While visiting my OB GYN at 40 weeks I was congratulated by the nurse practitioner for being one of the healthiest pregnant women she had ever seen. Though it might seem like I am bragging, I assure you that any hubris surrounding my pregnancy dissipated the moment the fetal doppler fell silent.  

“After learning my baby had died, all motherly effort expended over those nine long months seemed fruitless.”

— Laura Devine

Despite my best efforts the outcome was worse than any I could have imagined and I was left devastated and disillusioned. After 52 hours in labor and a very difficult delivery I realized the healthy measures taken during pregnancy could serve a greater purpose. I would need all the strength I could muster to physically and emotionally navigate the rough waters I was unwillingly pushed into, especially over the next several months. Many of the tools I had acquired as a fitness professional proved valuable. However, yoga was, and continues to be, my life raft.

Recovery from Stillbirth

Postpartum, the delivery of a stillborn is dramatically different than the delivery of a living child. The stresses of any new mother are manifold, but those of the grieving mother are much darker and less understood. Instead of learning how to breastfeed and sending out birth announcements, I was focused on stopping the flow of my milk and making funeral arrangements. This trying time was made all the more difficult by dramatic hormonal shifts. For many mothers this is a veritable recipe for postpartum depression. In fact, the Massachusetts General Hospital for Women’s Mental Health tells us the risk of postpartum depression is four times greater for the mother of a stillborn than the mother of a living baby.  

While there is still much to be learned in the world of women’s health and hormones, the value of exercise is one of the few things most experts agree on. I was fortunate to have exercise so integrated into my life that it naturally became my main coping mechanism, my first instinct being to run as fast and push as hard as I could. The emotions were strong and so was my urge to fight against them. After a few weeks of fight or flight motivated movement I was sleeping poorly, exhausted, and no closer to feeling better than when I began.

“Yoga is a unique form of exercise in that many postures are specifically designed to subtly massage certain glands, which may in turn help balance endocrine function.”

— Laura Devine

Being a yoga instructor I did practice yoga daily but often at 3am as a substitute for sleep. During these late night/early morning practices it became apparent that although running was a great distraction, yoga was where the real healing happened. My practice brought me face to face with the feelings I was trying so hard to avoid which eventually led to feeling less anger and more compassion towards my body. By increasing time on the mat and simultaneously easing up on more vigorous workouts my body gradually shifted back towards balance. Intuitively I knew yoga helped but it was not until later that I realized how much of this was attributed to the positive effect it had on my wildly shifting hormones.

Many of these hormone-balancing poses are simple, safe, and can be performed at any fitness level. Even more encouraging is that, when practiced consistently, yoga strengthens the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting feelings of relaxation and proper adrenal function.

This enhanced relaxation response can partly be attributed to yoga raising gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in the brain, a key factor in alleviating feelings of anxiety and depression. I felt powerless when, 5 months after the stillbirth of my daughter, my period had not yet returned. The doctor wanted to write me a prescription but I declined. Instead I relied on a combination of good nutrition, adaptogenic herbs, and yoga. The following month my cycle returned to normal and three months after that I conceived a son.

I encourage anyone in the midst of the difficult process of healing from stillbirth to seek out yoga. Even a short practice in the comfort of your own home can have a dramatic impact on hormonal balance and overall quality of life. By channeling the nurturance I would have lavished my daughter inward I was able to connect with a part of me that needed recognition in order to move forward.

While one never really “gets over” the loss of a child I believe it is truly possible for loss to be a gateway to greater care and compassion. After my experience I doubted I would be able to wholeheartedly promote exercise again. To my surprise I found the doorway to my heart was through my body, and yoga was the key.

FOUND THIS INTERESTING?

Laura Devine, 200 hr RYT, NASM CPT

Read more here https://getfitlit.com/

10 Truths About Your Bathroom Scale’s Lies by Krista Goncalves

Dear Bathroom Scale… Why are you such a pretty little liar?

Does your scale whisper sweet nothings into your freshly painted toes one day, then turn around and bite them the very next day?

Does this same toe-biting scale like to play double-dutch with its numbers from week-to-week? Five pounds up, four pounds down, five more up, three down. Aaaaahhhh!

If you're experiencing this kind of pathological lying behavior from your bathroom scale - what’s the deal? How do we make sense of these seemingly nonsensical numbers?

As a Nutritionist and former Personal Fitness Trainer, this issue comes up continuously with clients. It’s always a challenge to enlighten them with the reality that surrounds their scale-weighing woes.

10 Truths About Daily Weight Fluctuations

Here are 10 uplifting truths for you to share with clients (and yourself!) about those annoyingly normal daily weight fluctuations:

1)    It is NOT a true measurement of your health. The scale number is simply one of many parameters you should be taking into account to determine if you are maintaining or approaching your optimal body weight. 

Girth measurements & body composition/body fat testing are often better evaluations of health. Heck, even how your clothes fit can be a better indicator!

2)    When we wake up after fasting for at least 8 hours, we're completely dehydrated and at our lowest weight of the day. 

This is why it is recommended to weigh yourself first thing in the morning, before you eat or drink anything, and after you have voided - that’s fancy-talk for "going potty".

3)    Speaking of voiding… you can experience daily weight fluctuations of 1-3+ lbs of waste that's been hanging out in your large colon. Who knew poop could be so heavy! 

Be sure to keep the bowels moving with plenty of fluids, plant-based fiber and targeted supplementation, if necessary.

4)    Your scale doesn't just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and as you just learned - fecal matter! When you lose "weight" - that doesn't necessarily mean that you've lost fat. In fact, the average run-of-the-mill bathroom scale has no way of telling you what bodily tissues or substances you've lost.

As most of us know and have experienced first-hand, losing muscle is nothing to get excited about, because muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more energy or calories your body burns, even when you're just sitting around.

That's one reason why a fit, active person (presumably with more muscle mass) is able to eat more food than the chronic dieter who is unknowingly breaking down and losing muscle. Weighing “skinny” on the scale does not always translate into healthy off the scale. This is what it means to be "skinny fat".

Generally speaking, it's only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of pure fat per week as a pound of fat = 3500 calories. So when you severely restrict your calories, causing your weight to drop say 10 pounds in 7 days - it's nearly physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you're really losing is water, muscle, and glycogen (or muscle sugar - see more about that in #6).

“The scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That’s it.
It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength or love.”

— Steve Maraboli

5)    Another highlight of the scale's indiscriminate nature: it can't tell if you've gained muscle.

A pound of muscle is like a small, compact brick, whereas a pound of fat is like a bulky, lumpy pillow. So that's why when you gain muscle and lose fat, your silhouette is slimmer and your body is more firm. Hence, building muscle makes it possible to drop clothing sizes (and lose inches) without a significant change in scale weight.

Consider the example that after 3 months of doing that new "bikini-body boot-camp" program, the scale says you've lost 5 pounds. This may not sound like much (heck, I'd take it!), but what if you had actually lost 8 pounds of pure fat and gained 3 pounds of muscle? That would be a pretty nice improvement in your body composition. But you would be misled, not to mention disappointed, if you only used a bathroom scale to track your progress. Refer back to better evaluations of health in #1.

6)    What you eat during the days leading up to a weigh-in can dramatically influence the numbers.

• Booze. Enough said.

• Sodium. Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. 

Health Canada indicates that the recommended upper limit for daily salt intake is 2,300 mg sodium, which is easy to take in considering there's over 2,000 mg of sodium in a single teaspoon of table salt and upwards of 1,000 mg in the average can of soup!

Sodium is such a sneaky substance and the more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. Be a savvy label reader.

When preparing food, always use natural, unrefined salt like Himalayan Pink Salt.

• Excessive carbohydrates (carbs) – affect our glycogen or muscle sugar stores. 

As HealthDiscovery.net puts it:

"Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored in the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it's packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it's stored.

Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with its associated water.

It's normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even in the absence of changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss..."

This is why physique competitors get rather obsessive not only about the scale leading up to their events, but especially with alcohol, salt and carb intake.

7)    For all the ladies out there...it's not you, it's your HORMONES! Yep, certain times of the month can be marked by less-than-pleasing numbers on the scale. 

Dr. Raquel Dardik, MD advises that some women can gain up to 10 lbs right before or during their period. 

This is because the natural drop in the hormone PROGESTERONE just before your period often causes digestive complaints like water retention and constipation. And remember how heavy poop can be?

Our bodies also tend to lose Magnesium in the days before menstruation, which drives our INSULIN levels up leading to an increase in food cravings - especially for sugar.

Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that keeps blood sugar levels in check but is also considered a fat storage hormone.

* It's a good idea to supplement daily with Magnesium as most of us are already deficient in this multi-tasking mineral. I generally recommend taking 200-400 mg of Magnesium Bisglycinate before bed as it can have a calming effect. Even better…soak in a hot Epsom salt bath before bed.

These hormonal drivers, along with overeating to feed the cravings, can contribute to weight gain.

8)    Birth control pills (that also mess up your hormones), and many medications like antidepressants (ex. Lyrica), beta-blockers, steroids and a host of others too numerous to list - can cause bloating, water retention, inflammation and hence, unintentional weight gain.

Discuss all of your medications with your Health Practitioner. Ask: are they absolutely necessary? And, am I on the correct medications/at the correct dosage?

9)    Long distance travel, especially air travel can cause dehydration & water retention, which may be reflected on the scale. 

Drink up and don't forget to replenish your electrolytes!

10)    Digital scales need to be re-calibrated every time they're moved. Learn How to Calibrate your Digital Scale.

Who knew? Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown my scales out – I should have just re-calibrated them!

So how do we deal with this pathological liar most of us consciously choose to live with? 

The key is to know, understand and believe the following...

Simply do your best to maintain an overall healthy lifestyle using the good ‘ol “80/20 approach”, which is basically eighty percent healthy choices mixed in with twenty percent of the fun stuff. 

✓    Drink plenty of water
✓    Reduce consumption of salty, processed, packaged and junk foods (including diet sodas)
✓    Improve your sleep habits
✓    Manage stress

If you’re already rocking your own version of an 80/20, or plan to be implementing a routine for a more balanced lifestyle, you must understand that these short-term ebb & flow patterns have nothing to do with your long-term progress and they are just part of the overall health journey.

Again, daily weight fluctuations are completely normal!

Best Practices Routine

However, when you do weigh yourself – consider this “best practices” routine:

    No more than once or twice weekly is recommended. (FYI - one study found that girls in particular experienced negative effects to their self-esteem levels by routinely tracking their scale numbers).
    Weigh yourself at a consistent time. It is often recommended to weigh yourself in the mornings, after voiding. 
    Wear the same thing each time you weigh, or nothing at all.
    Place the scale on the same surface and make sure it is calibrated properly.

This will all help to reduce some degree of fluctuation. Of course, be mindful of all the other possible reasons for daily weight fluctuations that were listed.

Final Thoughts:

Stop being a slave to the scale. It does not define you. You are worth so much more than THAT number!

FOUND THIS INTERESTING?

                 Krista Goncalves, CHN, RNC

A former marine biologist, Krista is now a Certified Holistic Nutritionist (CHN) and Registered Nutritional Counselor (RNC) – a qualified practitioner who provides guidance for building and maintaining nutritional well-being.

Krista likes to say that she's having a culinary love affair with food and is captivated by how it fuels, nourishes and energizes us. She believes your food should work for you, not against you. 

The mantra of “what you put in, is what you'll get out” supports her belief that real food, along with some high-quality supplements, can help heal us from many health conditions, or even prevent us from having certain ones in the first place - like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

With over 20 years of diverse professional teaching experience and a deep passion for promoting balanced, healthy living, she feels her contribution to the rapidly expanding and ever-evolving field of "functional health" is not only important, but incredibly rewarding.

Krista is also a women's health writer and you'll find her blogging regularly on MakingLemonade.ca ~ Empow(her)ed Health & Nutrition!

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My Pain: My Motivation For Changing The Lives of Women by Melissa Turner

I had endometriosis. It was unbelievably painful. It is a condition that affects over 176 million women around the world and yet most of us have never heard of the condition. In some cases women endure pain for years before realizing that what they are experiencing is far from normal. I did this too. I believed that my excruciating period pain was normal. I thought my swollen belly and my aching body was normal. I thought that regular PMS and erratic mood swings were normal. Gotta love those TV commercials that say all of this is just part of being a women… right?

Women are told from an early age that period pain is simply part of their cycle. Something they have to learn to deal with. That they shouldn’t be so weak or pathetic and that every women goes through this. This is why endometriosis can take over ten years to get properly diagnosed and in many cases it can dramatically effect the ability of women to get pregnant!

I had never heard of endometriosis. Have you?

The most common symptoms of endometriosis include painful periods and pain during sex. Endometriosis is a condition where the cells which are meant to remain in the uterus, spread into the abdominal cavity and grow and change along with the cycle. These eventually form adhesions and cysts, which cause incredible pain for many women. Though pain is a key indicator of endometriosis, some women don’t experience any pain or little pain as their cysts form in less obtrusive places.

I had pain though. I had pain from my very first period and it lasted for over 15 years. I followed all the best meaning advice and went to the best specialists I could find. Some were doctors, endometriosis specialists and gynaecologist. I went through seven operations, a number of hormone treatments putting my body through menopause or stopping my periods all together. I had a huge arrange of pain-killers and drugs to overcome all the side-effects of the hormone treatments. I had a huge handbag and it was not filled with typical girly things. Instead it was filled with pain-killers and drugs to help me to get through a typical day.

As much as I reached out for help, I never found any new insights or options from the typical medical sources.

“Something had to change, and it all began with me finally taking responsibility for myself and my health.”

— Melissa Turner

I began with throwing out all the junk in my life. The junk food, the junk relationships, the junk thoughts and all the chemicals I was adding into my body each and every day. I shifted my focus in a big way… it was about taking care of myself and my body. It was about providing for my body with real, nourishing foods. It was about filling my mind with positive and uplifting thoughts and it was about finally acknowledging and realizing my own strengths and loving myself.

I won’t lie. It wasn’t an easy journey. I certainly can relate to so many women who struggle to make the shift in using a holistic approach for their endometriosis. However, I can tell you that it has shifted more than my pain levels. I no longer experience pain or symptoms from endometriosis. I never believed that I could ever say that!

I also never believed that changing my thoughts, my food and my focus could shift me into a whole new life for myself. One filled with real fulfillment from my work and my relationships. I am finally open and energetically ready to do anything I wish to do in this world, without fear or limitation.

This is why I do what I do. I want more women to experience the shifts that I experienced when I finally started taking care of myself properly. It goes beyond simply eating a healthy diet or moving our bodies. It is about putting ourselves first and deciding that we are worth it. Truly worth it. Beyond beauty products and pretty dresses but worth taking care of in terms of our health and our personal well-being.

The REACH Technique©

I run an online business which supports women with endometriosis who are keen to use a holistic approach. I guide women on how to:

1. Eat for real nourishment

2. Move to help heal their bodies of anxiety and poor posture

3. Change their thinking and shift old emotional pain

4. Cleanse the body of contributors to developing endometriosis

I call it the REACH Technique© and you can get the full picture in my free online mini course.

Found This Interesting?

Sign up to find out more about the REACH Technique© and how you can successfully manage your endometriosis.

www.endoempowered.com

Endometriosis support group on Facebook 

Endometriosis Business page on Facebook

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Natural Solutions for Hormonal Imbalance with Dr. Carrie Jones

You are in for a treat with this interview with Dr. Carrie Jones!  Dr. Jones is a naturopathic physician who specializes in women's health.  She currently works as the full-time medical director for Precision Analytical, Inc, makers of the DUTCH test.  

You have heard me sing the praises of the DUTCH test on a past episode with functional medical practitioner, Ann Melin. DUTCH stands for Dried Urine Test of Comprehensive Hormones.  I really like this test because it is a great way to measure adrenal function, female hormone status and detox capacity.

Dr. Jones has looked at many thousands of these tests, and she recaps the common patterns she sees on this episode. She also talks about why and when to take such a test.

Finally, she dishes on all her favorite herbs and supplements for female hormonal complaints.  We put this together in a handy sheet for you. You can get a copy by using the button below:

Click Here for the Hand-Out

Thanks for listening!

Bridgit Danner, Founder of Women's Wellness Collaborative

You Don't Have Adrenal Fatigue by Maria Claps

There are too many people walking around thinking that they have adrenal fatigue. This diagnosis was handed to them after a saliva test and a visit to a holistic clinician. I admit, I used to use this method of testing. I’ve ordered saliva tests on my clients and have coached them in recovering from the maladies of modern day lifestyles, and at that time I too called it adrenal fatigue. It was a good way to learn and it had some value, but the science of lab work is changing.

Many of my clients got better, because when we get adequate rest, deal with our stressors, eat nutrient dense food and take high quality supplements, our bodies usually respond well. But this didn’t mean that they had adrenal fatigue.

So if you don’t have adrenal fatigue, what do you have?

Most likely, you are experiencing a mismatch between your biology and your lifestyle. This shows up in two main ways. The first is nutrition. For the vast majority of our time on earth, we’ve consumed wild game, fish, vegetables, starchy tubers, nuts, seeds and fruit in season. Nowadays, the 6 most common foods in the modern diet are pizza, sugar sweetened beverages, beer, bread, grain based desserts, and fried chicken. This type of diet is inflammatory and is a factor in our modern day chronic unwellness.

The second, lesser known, mismatch between our bodies and our lifestyle is the activation of our stress response system. Our stress response system has two components, the sympathoadrenomedulary system (SAS) which is responsible for our immediate or short term stress response and the HPA axis, which is responsible for our intermediate or long term stress response. The HPA axis consists of the hypothalamus and pituitary glands (in the brain) and the adrenal glands (in the mid back). It helps us process threats to the body (whether those threats are a car accident or refined, nutrient poor food.)

Both of these stress response systems exist for our good. But the protective mechanisms they produce can become harmful over the long term if continually called upon.

Here’s the perfect scenario for understanding this: Imagine you're a hunter gatherer out for a walk on the savannah and all of a sudden a wild boar charges you. It's a good thing that your heart rate, blood pressure increase. It’s a crucial part of your physiology meant to ensure your escape and this your survival. But at the same time these survival mechanisms activate, your digestion and sex hormone production plummet. This is how it’s supposed to be, but it’s a problem when it rarely or never calms down.

Enter the modern lifestyle….traffic, work deadlines, inflammatory food, over-exercise, or its opposite, couch potato syndrome, smoking, OTC drug abuse, lack of rejuvenating activities. The list goes on…I’m sure you get it.

The constant activation of the stress response via the SAS and HPA pathways erodes resilience and paves the way for metabolic breakdown.

The loss of resilience is associated with the modern day disease epidemic and is why stress contributes to so many conditions.

SOME CONDITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH CHRONIC HPA AXIS STIMULATION:

• Depression

• Fibromyalgia

• Excessive exercise

• Diabetes

• Central obesity

• Asthma

• Rheumatoid arthritis

• Eczema

• PMS

• Thyroid disease

If you’ve gone to a holistically minded doctor and you’ve got any number of these problems and a saliva test, you’ve probably been handed an adrenal fatigue diagnosis.

The adrenal fatigue model is loosely based on the work of Hans Selye and his general adaptation syndrome theory. Selye explained the progression of stress over time in 3 stages: alarm, resistance and exhaustion.

THE ADRENAL FATIGUE MODEL WITH THE THREE STAGES OF ADRENAL BURNOUT IS LOOSELY BASED ON THIS MODEL:

• Stage 1 of adrenal fatigue is high cortisol with DHEA on its way down.

• Stage 2 of adrenal fatigue is falling cortisol (which is sometimes in the normal range) and decreasing levels of DHEA

• Stage 3 is even lower cortisol and lower DHEA.

“But is the adrenal fatigue concept really accurate?”

— Maria Claps, HHC, FDNP

Not really. Consider two problems with the “adrenal fatigue” diagnosis:

Most people with “adrenal fatigue” don’t have low cortisol levels. The assessment of adrenal fatigue has depended on saliva measurement of cortisol taken at 4 distinct points throughout the day. Cortisol measured in saliva is only 2-5% of our total cortisol production. The vast majority (around 70%) of our cortisol is excreted in urine. This measurement is called metabolized cortisol. Free (salivary) cortisol is NOT the best marker for cortisol production. Metabolized cortisol, however, is a good marker for overall cortisol production.

This would not matter if free and metabolized cortisol was the same. But often, they are quite different.

It’s possible to have low free cortisol and high metabolized cortisol.

Some conditions with associated with low free cortisol and high total (aka metabolized) cortisol:

• Obesity

• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

• Insulin resistance

• Hyperthyroidism

• Active stress response

• Long term glucocorticoid use

Also, it is possible to have high free cortisol and low metabolized cortisol. This is commonly seen in liver damage and hypothyroidism.

***Special note for hypothyroid sufferers: If you get a DUTCH test and it shows up as high free cortisol and low total (aka metabolized) cortisol, you might be getting overdosed on your thyroid medication***

Therefore, a saliva test is an incomplete picture of true cortisol production.

Even when total cortisol is low, it's rarely because the adrenals are tired and unable to produce it. The control mechanisms for cortisol production reside in the brain and central nervous system, not the adrenal glands themselves. The adrenals produce cortisol but the regulatory mechanisms are primarily outside the adrenal glands. Therefore we should not be calling the problem of low cortisol adrenal fatigue, but instead it should simply be called “low cortisol mechanisms”.

Here are two reasons why cortisol production can drop:

1) Down regulation of the HPA axis – when we are exposed to stress for a long time, there can be a down regulation in cortisol receptor sensitivity. This is the body’s attempt to protect itself from the damaging effects of chronically high cortisol levels. The problem with this is that it actually ends up hampering the body’s ability to produce cortisol. This is an adaptive short term mechanism that becomes harmful in the long-term.

2) Impaired cortisol signaling – High cortisol levels will lead to cortisol resistance. This can be caused by a decrease in cortisol receptor sensitivity and/or a decrease in cortisol receptor expression.

With the DUTCH (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones) method of testing, which tests both free and metabolized cortisol, we have a greater understanding of the health of the adrenal glands. (We also get to look at sex hormone production and estrogen metabolite breakdown.)

True adrenal fatigue, if the term is to be used at all, should be reserved for those who have Addison’s disease, an autoimmune inability to produce cortisol.

But for the vast majority of us, our “adrenal fatigue” is simply a miscommunication between the brain/adrenals exacerbated by how we were designed to live (nutrient dense food, infrequent activation of the stress response, plenty of exposure to sunlight, connection with nature) and how many of us actually live (too much exposure to electronic screens, nutrient poor food and go-go-go lifestyles).

So what’s a woman to do?

You can get your adrenal hormones accurately (key word here!) and this is called the DUTCH test. This test uses dried urine to measure hormone levels. Precision Analytical laboratory in Oregon is the maker of this test.

Maria Claps, HHC, FDNP

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This guide has everything I wish I knew when I went into perimenopause. Stuff even your holistic and integrative doctor may not be telling you.

You can get it at www.mariascopes.com.

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Interpreting Your Period Symptoms with Rachel Eyre

Rachel Eyre is a young woman who is of the generation of women that may get their periods quite young due to environmental factors.  Rachel got her period at age 8 or 9, and they came on heavy and painful.  She proceeded to develop an array of troubling symptoms, including severe migraines, and was taking 40 medications at day by age 28.

Luckily for her and us, she turned to natural medicine and educated herself on the causes of women's health woes.  She is now a wealth of knowledge on the following topics:

• What that weird menstrual color means

• Why you might have clots

• A reason behind menstrual headaches

• A reason behind frequent urination

• Alternatives to hormonal birth control

• Uterine positioning and "dancing fallopian tubes"

• The link between dioxin and endometriosis

She will also cover some cool solutions that you can do at home such as:

• Yoni steams

• Castor oil packs

• Abdominal massage

Rachel taught me a LOT on this interview, and I think you'll learn a lot too!

Links:

Rachel's site: thehealthywomb.com

Research site about progesterone and more: cemcor.ca 

Listen here:

The best way to listen to all our expert interviews is to be subscribed through iTunes or most podcast players.

Feel free to leave your comments below.

Thanks! Bridgit

Skin Care: Dangers and Possibilities with Denie Hiestand

Denie Hiestand is a natural health consultant, author, research expert, and former successful New Zealand dairy farmer. Denie has spent decades studying the skin and toxins/chemicals in everyday cosmetics and personal care products and identified a strong link between the high usage of chemical personal care products and the growing rates of cancers, infertility, hormone imbalances, allergies and various other modern day illnesses.

In response to his patient’s requests, Denie set about to create a completely pure and natural range of skincare products which not only contained none of the harmful additives found in the majority of commercial products, but equally importantly, contained life-giving, cell nourishing ingredients which feed and nourish the skin.

It took him eight years, many attempts and a big investment of his own money (including selling his wife's car out from under her!) to develop his skincare line, called The Cream.

Denie has a no-nonsense "New Zealand farm boy" style in his communication.  His passion to prevent women from using dangerous skin care products, and his passion to formulate alternative, effective products is evident in this interview.

Here are a few things he shared about conventional skincare:

• Chemicals in skin cream are designed to enter through skin 

• This makes them the #1 source of toxin ingestion- absorbing up to 2.6 lbs a year

• 99% of disease involves toxins 

• 90% of chemicals in use are used in cosmetics

• One month on commercial skincare is worse 10 years of smoking

• In reproductive women, toxins are stored in the fatty acid reserves, which the fetus lives off of in the 1st trimester

• In menopausal women, storage is more in the organs such as the breast

Denie's skincare line is colostrum-based. Colostrum is produced in lactating mammals the first 72 hours after giving birth.  

These days colostrum is being used more a health supplement.  Denie was already aware of the power of colostrum from his experience as a dairy farmer. Colostrum activates the cells, the immune system, and has "electric and zeta potential." It stimulates growth hormone.

Their colostrum is sourced from healthy, grass-fed, antibiotic-free New Zealand dairy cows. The cows produce a surplus, so collecting it is no detriment to their offspring.

Denie and his staff are extending a 20% discount plus free shipping to our listeners through June 30, 2016 with the code HEALTHYSKIN at check-out.  Shop and explore at TheCream.com.  

You can listen to the interview below, and be sure to subscribe to a podcast at iTunes or most podcast players.

June Seed Cycling Challenge

In Portland, OR (my hometown), the city hosts a cycling challenge, challenging you to ride your bike to work as many days as you can.

This is a different cycling challenge!

Seed cycling - alternating the consumption of certain raw seeds every 2 weeks - is intended to support the production and clearance of hormones.  It's very safe and gentle, but always ask your doctor first if you are on medications or in poor health.  

This protocol is NOT intended for pregnant women.  It is safe for breastfeeding women, women trying to conceive, menopausal women and even for men!  My husband will unwittingly be on the rotation as I'll put the seeds in our shakes.

How to Do It:

Seeds:

Phase 1:  Raw, freshly-ground (same day), pumpkin and/or flax seed

Phase 2:  Raw, freshly-ground (same day), sunflower and/or sesame seed

Dosage:  You will see slightly different recommendations in different places.  You can do rounded 1 T of each, 2 T of just one type, or up to 4 T total (measurement is made before grinding) in a day.  I think what is most important to to get at least 2 T a day (size before grinding.)  If you happen to get in extra servings, no problem!

Timing:

Cycling women: If you are currently cycling, you start phase 1 of the seeds on the first full day of your period. Day 1-14 is your follicular phase. You will then switch to phase 2 on day 15 of your cycle.  Day 15-28 is your luteal phase.

Non-cycling women:  This goes for menopause, breastfeeding women, or women with amenorrhea (no cycle in 3 or more months.)  Start phase 1 of the seeds on June 4 (the new moon.)  You will switch to phase 2 of the seeds on June 20, or the full moon.  

To see a lunar calendar, click here.

Notes:

When do I switch the seeds exactly?

Seed cycling is recommend on a 28 day cycle.  However the lunar cycle is 29.5 days.

I would say if you are going with the lunar calendar, stick to the lunar schedule.

If you are a cycling woman, always switch on day 15, but if you cycle runs longer than 28 days, it's ok to keep taking phase 2 seeds a couple extra days, but no more.

This is a tip from the website of Dr. Amy Neuzil, ND, "If you’re trying to get pregnancy it’s important to continue the luteal-phase seeds (sesame/sunflower) until you actually have a period, just in case you are pregnant that month. This gives the egg the best chance at implantation."

Can you just take the seeds whenever?

It depends.  If you are trying to really stick to the phase 1 and phase 2, avoid eating a bunch of tahini (contains sesame seeds) in phase 1.  But, sure you can have hummus a couple times, no problem.

The other side of the coin, say if you are post-menopausal, or have a healthy cycle but just want to eat these foods as boost, you can take the seeds whenever, but just know you aren't really seed cycling anymore, but you are instead just getting some healthful, hormone-boosting foods throughout the month.

What if my diet doesn't allow me to eat some of these seeds?

If you are avoiding, for example, flax seeds and sunflower seeds, then just use the pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds in rotation. If you are avoiding all nuts and seeds, then you can rotate fish oil supplement in your phase 1 (2 caps a day), and then use borage oil in phase 2 (2 caps a days).

You can purchase these at our supplement shop under the names GLA 240 and OmegAvail Ultra.

Do I need to soak the seeds?

No, you don't need to soak the seeds, but you are welcome to do so to increase the digestibility.

Community:

We are mainly hosting the chat for this event on our private Facebook group. You can ask to join that here.  (It's free.) If you do use Facebook, I highly recommend that you join!

If you aren't a Facebook person, it's no problem.  You can also leave comments or questions at the close of this blog.

We had a super fun Q and A webinar, Fixing Your Hormones with Food, to talk about seed cycling and balancing hormones with food (especially estrogen dominance) on 6/23/16 with Magdalena Wszelaki of HormonesBalance.com.

Watch the webinar replay here.

Magdalena offers a really great, free, online cooking class called Cooking for Balance.  Watch it here.

Recipe Links:

Estrogen Boosting Crackers

Progesterone Boosting Crackers

Recipe Videos:

Please be sure to watch this first video, as it is the main instructional video. The other videos are recipes.  We have two and will be adding more on June 15!

Harness Your Cycle Superpowers!

My guests today are Audrey Sourroubille Arnold and Lucia Lukanova, both women's health coaches and also partners in a women's health app called The Flow.

A bit about the pair:

Audrey- Diagnosed with endometriosis  a few years ago.  She feels her former high pressure career contributed to her endometriosis diagnosis and overall burn-out. She switched careers into women's health.

Lucia- Working long hours doing big technology projects. She got burned out as well, and started to learn about hormones of stress and the menstrual cycle. She started to notice the subtle symptoms related to the phases of her cycle. She wanted an app to help her track her cycle, but didn’t find one, so she started to develop one, now out in several languages, called the Flow App.

Stages of the Cycle

Week One- Starts with day one of your cycle.   Cleanse time, from the inside out- want to be alone and peaceful.  Your verbal skills are lower, but is a 'wise stage.'  Energy is low and if you push you get cravings to create energy.

Paula Ratcliffe ran the Chicago marathon in world record time, and was on day 1 of her cycle.

In transition from period to the next stage (dynamic), is a good time to knock out your to-do list.

Week Two- Dynamic phase- energy is good, accomplish things, 'maiden' phase

Ovulation- femme fatale moment - phéromones are high, vocal chords have highest range, good time to ask for pay raise

Post-ovulation- a mini PMS is possible

Week Three- Reflexive phase- decide what to keep or give up, evaluate, very empathic, mother, femininity, caring, nurturing 

Week Four- Creative phase, Enchantress, represents Autumn season

Some resources we mention on the show:

Audrey's website

Miranda Gray's website

Jason Karp's book, Running for Women: Your Complete Guide for a Lifetime of Running

Video on How to Use the Flow App

Ultimately you will have to download the Flow App from the app store on your smartphone, but you can find more info on the Flow App here.

You can listen to the full interview below, but be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get an interview weekly!  Just got into your the podcast app on your smartphone and search, "Womens Wellness Radio."

Enjoying the show?  We'd really appreciate you taking a moment to rate and review us on iTunes.

A Better Approach to Perimenopause

This is a guest blog article from our friend Dr. Anna Cabeca, MD, OB/GYN.  Learn more about Anna and her resources at the close of the article.

HORMONES IN BALANCE ARE GOOD, HORMONE IMBALANCE IS BAD. 

What do I mean by that?  In healthy menstruating females, hormones cycle on a monthly basis.  Our first day of our period is cycle day one, progesterone and estrogen is at their lowest; this is the follicular phase.  At around cycle day 12 - 14, ovulation occurs and our progesterone levels increase awaiting a pregnancy, this is the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, if pregnancy does not occur, progesterone drops and our period occurs again.  

Commonly, in our thirties, our progesterone levels start to drop, more than our estrogen levels, creating something called estrogen dominance. This gives us irregular menstrual cycles, possibly heavier bleeding, increased pain with the menses and PMS symptoms such as breast tenderness, irritability, bloating, etc.  

We may also begin to lose our sex drive and vaginal lubrication.  Our skin may become itchy, noticeably more wrinkled - sometimes this seems to appear overnight - welcome to hormone imbalance!

What can you do about hormone imbalances?  

The answer is not just one thing.  I always recommend a balanced head to toe approach.  My head to toe approach encourages every woman to take control of her health!  So, where should the focus be for women at this time?

Focus on the spiritual:  What is the mental atmosphere that you find yourself in and what can you do to gain some perceived control of it?

Environment: What are your personal and work environments; and what could be interfering with your ability to achieve happiness? How much nature are you experiencing?  Are you getting enough sunlight? When was the last time you walked outside barefoot?

Nutrition:  Your body is your temple and what should you be ingesting to nurture it? Is the food you are eating promoting ketosis or fat-burning?  Is it alkalinizing? These two principles are key.

Digestion:  No matter how well you eat, you have to ensure that you have appropriate digestion - that means adequate acid and digestive enzymes in your stomach and healthy bacterial flora in your intestines to absorb the nutrients. A surprising number of women have poor digestion.

Detoxification: Since the 1950's, corporations have introduced greater than 500,000 chemicals into our environment.  Additionally, no matter how we get our hormones, whether it is from what our body naturally produces or from the xeno-estrogens from the environment from pesticides, herbicides, food we eat, air we breathe, etc.;  how our body gets rid of it is even more important.  All my patients are introduced to my nutrient and protein base detoxification program that includes a modified elimination diet to remove foods, etc., that are likely to produce allergies.

Hormonal balancing: We need to consider the hypothalamic, pituitary, adrenal, and gonadal axis, i.e. the entire hormone web.  Additionally, each woman is hormonally unique and part of achieving your optimal health is in understanding this and achieving your own hormonal balance.

Structure and function: Physical strength and exercise are the final and very important aspects to achieving optimal health.

So, when I approach a woman who has symptoms of hormone imbalance, and this is my area of expertise for the last 20 years, we need to incorporate all of the above aspects into a balanced treatment program.  For hormone balancing, I consider the major hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol and thyroid, and the hormones estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and DHEA.  

Based on a given individual, I may recommend bio-identical hormone therapy for things such as for treating hot flashes, helping with bones, brain, and heart, improving our sex lives, skin, and energy, and for maintaining our optimal body weight.  

My approach has always been to prescribe the lowest doses in the most balanced fashion, based on a given woman’s specific medical history and symptoms, along with test results such as saliva and serum hormone testing.  Adding hormones may help, but there are a couple key physiologic lifestyle tips that we must incorporate for optimum success and optimum menopausal experience.  

Let me give an example:

Zoe is 43 years old and her periods had gradually becoming more frequent; she complained of more irritability prior to her periods and absolutely no sex drive.  And even worse than this – she just felt out of sync.  She said that she used to organize all 4 children’s schedules and keep her bills organized, and she volunteered a lot at the school; yet she suddenly felt that she couldn’t even organize her car pool.  She had 'lost her edge'.  

I took an extensive history, covering all 7 topics above, and did serum, saliva and urinary testing to evaluate hormones and detoxification.  She was definitely progesterone deficient, estrogen dominant and also was fatty acid deficient, i.e. she needed more healthy fats, especially omega 3's in her diet.  I prescribed a bio-identical progesterone cream and a testosterone cream and in 3 weeks she returned stating she was "feeling better than she had in years!"  She had "gotten her edge back".  She was also sleeping better, her sex drive returned and her focus and stamina returned.  I had also recommended a balanced quality multivitamin, omega 3's, calcium, and a few other nutrients based on nutrient testing such as Co Q 10, Alpha lipoic acid, and carnitine to improve her energy and weight as well.

Her periods became regular, in fact, she stated she couldn't even tell when her periods were coming - the PMS was entirely gone and her relationship with her husband became more satisfying and intimate again.

Dr. Anna Cabeca OB/GYN

It is hard for women, especially because we have so many different roles and obligations, to take the time for ourselves that we need in order to feel our best and perform our best for all those that we love around us.  

I encourage each and every one of you to take that time…to remember to try and do as much naturally as you can towards the 7 areas above so that you can achieve your optimal health.

And if you are still struggling with haywire hormones, join me in learning more about the above principles. Take my Menopause Report Card quiz here!  

Four Tips for Menopause

When your ovaries are shutting down or have shut down, what is most important is to stabilize and nourish other systems.  You can be more energetic, balanced and joyful when all systems are a go!

So I want to highlight a few key systems to support, and share a tidbit on how to support each one:

1.  Adrenals- These glands will give you your get-up-and-go, and well as help you handle stress.  Tip:  Being fully asleep by 10 PM will allow you to repair these glands on a nightly basis.

2. Pancreas- This gland supports blood sugar handling, and it doesn't appreciate peaks and valleys.  When you jack in with sugars or skipped meals, you can get anxious, fat, fatigued and more.  Tip:  Also choose slow-burning whole starches like sweet potato, quinoa or wild rice.  Avoid processed treats and alcohol.

3.  Liver- Your liver starts the recycling process of hormones, so you want it running smoothly.  Tip:  Support with your liver with foods it likes such as pastured eggs, onion, garlic, brussels sprouts and spinach.

4. Intestines- The recycling/detoxification process continues in the colon, so you want a healthy gut that moves at least every 24 hours.  Tips:  Eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to feed the friendly bacteria in your gut.  Aim for 20 different types a week!  Walking after a meal is great for digestion too, and it signals to your body to uptake sugars, thus avoiding insulin resistance and weight gain.

Getting older is inevitable, but being tired and miserable is optional!  You may need to learn a few new tricks to stay healthy, but it's totally worth it!

Article by Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP

Have you taken our hidden hormone stressors quiz yet?  You can do so here.

Testing and Supporting Your Neurotransmitters with Cammi Balleck

I think you're going to like this episode!  Cammi Balleck really brings it with great information on women's health, focused on brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) and their relationship to our hormones.  

When our hormones ratios are off, our neurotransmitters will likely get affected. Cammi has worked exclusively with female health and hormones for 13 years, and has developed a testing strategy and treatment strategy that get her clients great results from anxiety, pain, food cravings and more.

Learn more at CammiBalleck.com.  You can download detailed notes and links below. Thanks! Bridgit

Listen to Episode

Download Notes

Click Here to Get Notes and Links

Feel free to share your comments below.  And if you are not yet subscribed to Women's Wellness Radio, you can do so at iTunes or most podcast players.

Five Fun Ways to Fix Your Adrenal Glands

Many people mistake the picture of health for a picture of deprivation. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.  We can enjoy good food, good friends, and lots of fun and pleasure while we enjoy good health as well!

Today we’re going to cover five fun ways to heal your adrenal glands.  The adrenal glands produce hormones for energy and stress-handling, and they take a beating in our culture of chronic stress.

Adrenal function can go awry in three phases:

1. Hyperfunction- You are producing a lot of cortisol and may feel like you have a lot of of energy.  However you may have trouble relaxing, may be gaining mid-section weight, and may have lost interest/focus for sex.

2. Dysregulation- Your adrenals are fatiguing, and your energy is varied.  You may be tired in the mid-afternoon, and relaying on caffeine and sugar for a lift.  You might be getting sick too often.  You may feel like you only have energy late at night.

3. Exhaustion- Your adrenals don’t have a lot to give.  You may get diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome or hypothyroidism.  You may just feel like a shadow of your once energetic self.

There are causes of stress beyond the obvious ones (traffic jams, deadlines, fights), that include things like environmental toxicants, internal parasites and food sensitivities.  

But today we are going to focus on ways to calm and restore your body, that you’ll also enjoy!  These tips support you, whichever phase of adrenal dysregulation you may be experiencing. 

1.  Have unstructured time. 

Is your day planned out and packed from morning to bedtime?  This is very tiring on your system!  Give yourself some time to just wander, relax and do whatever you choose.  If your day is really packed, you may have to actually schedule this time.  

2.  Get out in nature. 

Getting outdoors can shift your perspective away from your worries, and help you see the bigger picture.  This can be a true camping trip, sunbathing in a park, or just walking around your neighborhood.  The fresh air, vitamin D and phytochemicals emitted from plants will all help balance your cortisol. (1) (2)

3.  Vacation. 

With smartphones, laptops and ever-present wifi, many people are working seven days and week.  Taking a long weekend or, better yet, a whole week or month to really unplug and explore is super restorative.  When is your next vacation?!

4.  Read.

Reading, preferably on an old-fashioned paper book without the blue light of a screen, has been studied to be very effective for relaxation.  I also encourage reading fiction, or whatever subjects really ‘takes you away.’  Your body will appreciate this break! (3)

5.  Sleep. 

Sleep is the most restorative thing we do.  It’s so important that it takes up a third of our day!  There is an old saying that every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours.  This may be because we produce more human growth hormone when we sleep when it turns dark, instead of staying up. (4) So, especially while you are healing adrenal dysregulation, it’s important to get to bed before 10 PM.  

You may find that you ramp up if you stay up after 10.  This does not mean that you are a nocturnal creature.  It means your circadian rhythm and cortisol rhythm is off.  So you really need to try to get it back on track.  That may mean working with a practitioner, but for starters, avoid sugar and alcohol at night, and end screen time by 8 PM.  

You will find that you feel much better the next day when you are asleep by 10.  The human growth hormone we produce when we sleep repairs our bodies and gives us energy. (5)  Human growth hormone is what we produce more of when we are young, so getting good sleep is like a little fountain of youth every night.  

Please incorporate these five fun cures for your adrenals, and you just might find you want to keep these habits around!

For more information on healthy lifestyle for women, take our free Hidden Hormone Health Stressors quiz!

Contributed by Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP

Sources:

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2793346/

2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20074458

3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/5070874/Reading-can-help-reduce-stress.html

4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3720426

5.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12797841

Cooking Up Love for Your Thyroid with Chef and Health Coach Andrea Beaman

Andrea Beaman did not always eat so well.  Microwave dinners and toaster pizzas were on the menu.  Eventually she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.  

Also her dear mom had breast cancer that had spread, and she was given not long to live.  In looking for solutions for her mom, she turned to whole foods and healthy mindset.  

Andrea later went on to be on the first season of Top Chef, after being encouraged by one of her cooking students.  Andrea did not own a TV, and had no idea what she was getting into, so it turned into quite an adventure!

Some of Andrea's many get quotes:

"Autoimmunity can be healed."

"Don’t wait till you’re in the grave to make a change."

"Cooking at home and feeding others is so valuable."

On pesticides..."the difference between the bug and us is size."

"This century is about thyroid.  50 years of women not eating fat, not getting minerals carried by fat got us here."

 "I value the doctors. If I go outside and get hit by a bus, please take me to the doctor, don't take me to the health food store."

"Fad diets are always missing some food group."

Vegans- Get adrenal exhaustion.

Paleo- Missing starches needed for microbiome, which backs up liver. Starches feed the mitochondria.

Nourishing Thyroid Health is Andrea's online educational program on the thyroid.  Learn about:

• Preparing foods

• How the endocrine system works

• Environmental toxicants

• How to heal the digestive system

• How to heal the adrenals

• The emotional and spiritual aspect of thyroid health

Includes:

• Guest expert modules

• Live coaching calls

Please check out the program here: https://tinyurl.com/thyroid123

Andrea's Top Five Take-aways:

1. Eat clean- get toxins out

2. Support your energetic body with exercise of some sort, inc. tai chi, yoga

3. Destress- set boundaries

4. Get some sun- get outdoors

5. You’re worth it!

Andrea and I also recorded a short video on youtube that is super fun.  You can access it below, for your own mini-cooking lesson with Andrea.

The two books that inspired Andrea in those early days are:

Physician Heal Thyself by Hugh Faulkner

The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton

Listen below.

If you enjoyed this episode, please support us by rating and reviewing us on iTunes!

You can also get subscribed to this weekly show on iTunes and many Android podcast players.

The Four Pillars of Happy Perimenopause with Maria Claps

Before you jump into hormone replacement, or get hooked on mood-altering medications during your perimenopausal years, you need to hear out Maria Claps!

Maria is a health coach and functional medicine practitioner who entered full menopause before 50.  But before that, she had a rough ride in perimenopause.  After not sleeping for three full days, she broke down and saw a holistic medical doctor.  Though she got some relief, she didn't get the careful testing and holistic approach she would have liked.

She went on to become an expert on perimenopause, and now sees, primarily, women ages 45-50 who are complaining of fatigue, low libido, weight gain and low mood.

She developed her approach to hormone health, which she calls the 4 pillars.  These include liver care, adrenal support, blood sugar balancing, and hormone testing.

We talk especially about a test we both like, called the Dried Urine Test of Comprehensive Hormones.  This test can save you a lot of grief!

Listen in, and learn about Maria's approach.

For more on Maria, see:

Her program "Balance Your Hormones, Love Your Life" which starts May 2, 2016

Or pick up her free perimenopause guide: http://nourishandflourishhealth.com/

Have you joined our online summit yet?  It's free, and preview event start 3/30/16! Sign up at Hormones: A Women's Wellness Summit.

See Maria's demonstration on homemade kombucha below:

Eliminate Endometriosis Pain with Melissa Turner

Hello, and a big thank you for listening.  We've had a surge in listeners in the past month, and it's thanks to YOU listening and sharing!

About 6-8% of all women have endometriosis (source), and many of those experience severe, chronic pelvic pain.  Many of those women will undergo surgery, or multiple surgeries, as our guest expert Melissa Turner did.

Exhausted and frustrated, Melissa turned to dietary changes to see if that could help. She did find relief there, but also found that there was more the solution than obsessing over diet.

Melissa now experiences her cycle with nary a blip on her radar, and she teaches others to do the same at endoempowered.com.

In this interview, she explains how she developed her REACH method. (She's got a new Endo Wellness Technique program starting soon here.)

Melissa also made an appearance on our youtube channel to take about turmeric.

And she generously wrote a blog for us called, What Few People Will Dare to Tell You About Endometriosis.  Intrigued? Check it out here!

If you are not a subscriber to our podcast, we'd love for you to become one!  You can do so at iTunes, or search your podcast player for "Womens Wellness Radio."

Do you have any experiences overcoming your endometriosis symptoms?  Please share below.

Hormones: A Women's Wellness Summit- Registration is Now Open!

We are super excited to announce that our pretty registration page is now open for YOU to sign up!

Join Here

Just a few of our 35 features speakers!

We are so proud of this event, and can't wait to share it with you!  But you don't really have to wait, because you'll get three video interviews with three reference guides right away!  

REGISTER FOR THE SUMMIT

We are also looking for good folks to spread the word about the summit. You can do that as:

A 'professional' (aka- you have an email newsletter and you're in the health field)

Become a Summit Affiliate

 

An individual (aka- you just love us and want more women to be healthy)

Join Our 'Street Team' Here

Thank you so much for your support, and we'll see you on the summit!

Questions?  Hit me up here.  

Love, Bridgit